I. Field of the Invention
The aspects of the present invention relate to Ground Effect Machines (GEM) to transport, locate, and intermittently position loads. More specifically, the embodiments of the present invention relate to a novel Ground Effect Machine capable of bearing loads including equipment, goods and materials which are being manufactured and/or transported. When used as a positive pressure device, the GEM generates a cushion of air that floats a load from one point to another. When used as a negative pressure device, the GEM securely fixes a load to a surface by creating and maintaining a vacuum.
II. Description of the Related Art
The problem of transporting devices, equipment, cargo, goods, and materials has been with us for a long time. Various methods of transporting loads and then fixing them at a predetermined position have been devised with varying success.
Wheeled dollies, wheeled cart devices, pallet trucks, and various configurations of industrial lift trucks are in widespread use for transporting loads. However, once the load is brought to its desired location, the load must be removed from the cart or industrial lift truck; with respect to equipment intermittently positioned, such equipment must bolted or otherwise temporarily fixed to a location. This can be a time-consuming and complicated logistical problem.
A well-known system used in storage and transportation is the wooden pallet, which is transported by conventional forklift equipment. A forklift operator moves the fork beneath the pallet, lifts the pallet and then moves the pallet from location to location. Wooden pallets have many disadvantages. First, wooden pallets are subject to breakage, exposing sharp wooden edges and corners. The pallets are relatively heavy. Because of their weight and bulk, the pallets are difficult for an individual person to carry from point to point. One of the biggest disadvantages of using a wooden pallet is the fact that it must be used with a forklift, which is a bulky, cumbersome and expensive piece of equipment. Pallets must frequently be moved from commercial transport vehicles onto loading docks, and vice versa, meaning that at every loading dock a forklift must be present, unless the trucker can carry a forklift on the truck, which itself is an inefficient use of space and fuel.
In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,344, "Low cost planar air pallet material handling system," issued on Apr. 6, 1976 to Johnson et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,926, "Air pallet and materials moving system," issued on Mar. 28, 1989 to Chaffee et al., these patents teach the use of air pallets that incorporate an air bearing, film, or cushion between the bottom of the pallet and the floor supporting the pallet. This reduces friction between the pallet and the underlying floor to the point that the pallet, along with its load, can be moved along the floor or other ground surface with relative ease. Some air cushion pallets were relatively bulky and heavy since the means for supplying pressurized air to the pallet was relatively crude and took up a great deal of valuable space on the pallet itself Moreover, air pallets rely on the constant flow of air to reduce the friction between the floor surface and the pallet, thus requiring high airflow to maintain lift. Another problem with air pallets is that the air cushion established by the pressurized air between the bottom surface of the pallet and the underlying support such as the floor may be maintained only where there is continuity in the floor surface itself and the presence of cracks, or irregularities in the floor result in the loss of the air cushion and the elimination of the frictional support.
Various air cushion vehicles have been contemplated for this type of use. As shown in FIG. 1, an air cushion vehicle 100 is essentially a high-speed fan or high air pressure source 102 inside a receiver 104. The air pressure source 102 forces air through multiple holes 106 in the receiver 102. This air is captured by the air skirt 108 and the subsequent lift provided reduces the friction across the floor. Such transport systems are contemplated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,147, "Vehicles riding on air cushions" issued on Nov. 29, 1977 to Guinne et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,082, "Air cushion vehicles" issued on Aug. 2, 1983 to Herrouin et al. The problem with such systems is that they require relatively high airflow rates attributed to the air skirt 108, which forms an inadequate air seal with the floor. The escaping air reduces the lift provided by the air, and thus needs replenishment by the air source 102. Maintaining the high amount of air flow often requires heavy, expensive and often noisy machinery. Air cushion vehicles fail to solve the problem of fixing its load in place, requiring bolting, clamping, or other solution to solve this problem.
Other cargo transport systems limit their usefulness by requiring a large amount of infrastructure. For example, a system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,590 "Ultra high-speed pneumatic transportation system," issued on Oct. 19, 1993 to Marusak, requires moving people and cargo through a pneumatic tube in vehicles requiring a variable-speed motor using a high-speed air stream generator. This effectively limits this particular solution to situations where the expensive tubing is already present.